Saturday, July 30, 2011

Thoughts on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

So here it is, my last Harry Potter reread post! I’ve really enjoyed writing these, even if I was maybe a little overzealous at times. :P Check in later today for my thoughts on the Deathly Hallows Part 2 movie, and then on Sunday for an overall wrap-up of these posts, as well as some Harry-Potter related goodies I have to share with you.

Each time I read Deathly Hallows I like it more and more. And oddly enough, I also find that each time I read it I’ve managed to forget little details, so I find myself more excited and intrigued than I normally would be while rereading a book, which is awesome. We just get so much information in this one, it’s wonderful.

- Okay, so this is probably a stupid question/comment, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently. They frequently refer to the protection that Harry has from Lily’s sacrifice as a “charm,” mentioning the protection that Lily gave him and that the charm will break under certain conditions, etc. Before Deathly Hallows came out and everyone was still speculating about what was going to happen, I remember two pieces of information we were given: one, that Harry having Lily’s eyes was important, and two, that it was important that Lily’s wand was good at charmwork (Ollivander mentions this at one point). Now obviously, Harry having Lily’s eyes is important for Snape-related reasons, but the charm thing never really came into play. So I started wondering whether the protection/love charm was something intentional that Lily did to protect Harry. I’d never thought this before, and I still don’t know if I believe it, but it’s just something that’s been running through my mind.

- I. Love. Ron. Case in point:

“Yes, good point,” said Mrs. Weasley from the top of the table, where she sat, spectacles perched on the end of her nose, scanning an immense list of jobs that she had scribbled on a very long piece of parchment. “Now, Ron, have you cleaned out your room yet?”

“Why?” exclaimed Ron, slamming his spoon down and glaring at his mother. “Why does my room have to be cleaned out? Harry and I are fine with it the way it is!”

“We are holding your brother’s wedding here in a few days’ time, young man – “

“And are they getting married in my bedroom?” asked Ron furiously, “No! So why in the name of Merlin’s saggy left – “

“Don’t talk to your mother like that,” said Mr. Weasley firmly. “And do as you’re told.”

Ron scowled at both his parents, then picked up his spoon and attacked the last few mouthfuls of his apple tart.

Aaaahhh I love him so much.

- “When I get married,” said Fred, tugging at the collar of his own robes, “I won’t be bothering with any of this nonsense. You can all wear what you like, and I’ll put a full Body-Bind Curse on Mum until it’s all over.”

Sniff. Oh Fred.

- I love The Silver Doe chapter, both because of the Snape parts of it and because Ron comes back! This is one of my two favorite chapters in this book (I’ll give you one guess what the other one is :P).

- I love the bit when they’re at the Lovegood’s and Hermione is trying to reason with Xenophilius and she’s just getting so frustrated:

“All right,” said Hermione, disconcerted. “Say the Cloak existed… what about the stone, Mr. Lovegood? The thing you call the Resurrection Stone?”

“What of it?”

“Well, how can that be real?”

“Prove that it is not,” said Xenophilius.

Hermione looked outraged.

“But that’s – I’m sorry, but that’s completely ridiculous! How can I possibly prove it doesn’t exist? Do you expect me to get hold of – of all the pebbles in the world and test them? I mean, you could claim that anything’s real if the only basis for believing in it is that nobody’s proved it doesn’t exist!”

“Yes, you could,” said Xenophilius. “I am glad to see that you are opening your mind a little.”

- Potterwatch!! I wish they’d put this in the movie more. It’s one of my favorite little details of the book. I especially love the bit about Hagrid throwing a “Support Harry Potter” party in his house… hahahahahaha I love Hagrid. That is so something he would do.

Also this:

“… I’d like to introduce a new correspondent: Rodent.”

“Rodent?” said yet another familiar voice, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione cried out together:

“Fred!”

“No – is it George?”

“It’s Fred, I think,” said Ron, leaning in closer, as whichever twin it was said,

“I’m not being ‘Rodent,’ no way, I told you I wanted to be ‘Rapier’!”

“Oh, all right then. ‘Rapier,’ could you please give us your take on the various stories we’ve been hearing about the Chief Death Eater?”

…

“So, people, let’s try and calm down a bit. Things are bad enough without inventing stuff as well. For instance, this new idea that You-Know-Who can kill with a single glance from his eyes. That’s a basilisk, listeners. One simple test: Check whether the thing that’s glaring at you has got legs. If it has, it’s safe to look into its eyes, although if it really is You-Know-Who, that’s still likely to be the last thing you ever do.”

…

“Point is, people, don’t get lulled into a false sense of security, thinking he’s out of the country. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t, but the fact remains he can move faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo when he wants to, so don’t count on him being a long way away if you’re planning on taking any risks. I never thought I’d hear myself say it, but safety first!”

Fred's my boy. <3

- I get all teary eyed and squee when everyone starts pouring into the Room of Requirement. First it’s Luna and Dean, and then Ginny, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan. Then when Harry and Luna get back from Ravenclaw there’s even more. Kingsley, Lupin, Oliver Wood, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Bill and Fleur, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley… It just makes me so happy. I love Harry’s reaction too. He’s all WTF? And he describes the group as “the mingled members of the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore’s Army, and Harry’s old Quidditch team.” <3 <3 <3

- I love the scene where Percy returns as well. Everyone is just so awkward, it’s fantastic.

- Of course I have to mention Ron and Hermione’s kiss. That deserves a <3 for sure. All that work Hermione put into S.P.E.W. and it finally paid off! :P

- In addition to Snape, I’m a huge Fred fangirl, and his death scene is absolutely heartwrenchingly tragic. I remember I was so devastated when I first read it, I walked around depressed for about a week. (It didn’t help that at the same time I was watching the end of the second season of Doctor Who, and for those of you who watch it you know exactly what I’m talking about.) I still cry every time I read it.

- I love how desperate Snape is to find Harry, both when he runs into McGonagall in the hallway and when he’s talking to Voldemort in the Shrieking Shack. He keeps saying “let me go to the boy,” you can tell he’s getting frantic. That poor poor man.

- Snape’s death <3

Do I even need to say more? What an awful reason to die. Hurts my heart. I also love that Harry goes to him, even after everything he’s done. Harry is just so good.

“Normally,” said Snape, “But you’re Muggle-born, so someone from the school will have to come and explain it to your parents.”

“Does it make a difference, being Muggle-born”?

Snape hesitated. His black eyes, eager in the greenish gloom, moved over the pale face, the dark red hair.

“No,” he said. “It doesn’t make any difference.”

GUH. Just writing about this is making me tear up. “It doesn’t make any difference.” My heart can’t take this.

“Tell me about the dementors again.”

“What d’you want to know about them for?”

“If I use magic outside school – “

“They wouldn’t give you to the dementors for that! Dementors are for people who do really bad stuff. They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban. You’re not going to end up in Azkaban, you’re too –“

He turned red again, and shredded more leaves. Then a small rustling noise behind Harry made him turn: Petunia, hiding behind a tree, had lost her footing.

This is the conversation that Petunia mentions in Order of the Phoenix, when she says she heard “that awful boy” telling Lily about the dementors once. She also quotes Snape word for word: “They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban.” Knowing what we know now about how desperately she wanted to go to Hogwarts herself, can you imagine how much she must resent Harry even more for his magical ability?

I love getting to see Sirius and James on the train, taunting Snape from the very beginning about being in Slytherin versus Gryffindor.

Everytime I read about the scene where he calls her a Mudblood I always hope he won’t do it. Why, Snape? Why?

I love getting to see the development of the relationship between Snape and Dumbledore, and I especially love that we see that Dumbledore really did know everything going on (he tells Snape to keep an eye on Quirrell, almost as an afterthought to the rest of their conversation… Dumbledore telling Snape that he’s a braver man than Karkaroff for not running when they feel the Mark getting clearer, and that sometimes he thinks they Sort too soon (I especially love the stricken look on Snape’s face when Dumbledore says this)… Dumbledore knows that Voldemort plans to have Draco murder him… asking Snape to protect the students when Voldemort inevitably takes over… And OF COURSE, Dumbledore saying, with tears in his eyes, “After all this time?” “Always.” STOP IT SNAPE I AM PUDDLE OF GOO. I CANNOT. <3 …. I love Snape still getting advice from Dumbledore’s portrait … Snape finding and crying over the letter from Lily in Sirius’ bedroom… Phineas calling Hermione a Mudblood and Snape saying, “Do not use that word!”

Oh, there are just so many good moments. I could read that chapter over and over again.

- I absolutely love the end bit when Harry is hidden under the Invisibility Cloak casting all these jinxes and Shield Charms and nobody knows where they’re coming from. SO GOOD.

- EPICNESS:

‘And now there were more, even more people storming up the front steps, and Harry saw Charlie Weasley overtaking Horace Slughorn, who was still wearing his emerald pajamas. They seemed to have returned at the head of what looked like the families and friends of every Hogwarts student who had remained to fight, along with the shopkeepers and homeowners of Hogsmeade. The centaurs Bane, Ronan, and Magorian burst into the hall with a great clatter of hooves, as behind Harry the door that led to the kitchens was blasted off its hinges.’

And then the house elves just swarm in and everything goes crazy.

Also at one point Trelawney is chucking crystal balls at the Death Eaters which I think is just so hilarious and fantastic.

- I love the last epic confrontation, when Harry has his conversation with Voldemort and tells him that Snape was never his, that he was always Dumbeldore’s, and that the Elder Wand doesn’t belong to who he thinks it belongs to, I love him asking for remorse because he’s seen what Voldemort will become, and I especially love the fact that even though Snape killed Dumbledore, he never DEFEATED him, which makes all the difference in the world.

- Also, I tear up when Harry walks into the headmaster's office and sees Dumbledore’s portrait crying.

- Okay, so now it’s confession time. And my confession is that I actually really love the epilogue. Yes, it’s corny and silly and a little lame, but I love it for all of those things. I love that JK Rowling just let herself indulge in it and for that reason maybe it has some fanfiction tendencies. Whatever. And as lame as it is, I love that Harry named his kid Albus Severus, and that he is the only one who has Lily’s eyes. I’m a gushy goofball like that. I can totally understand why a lot of people don’t like it and I generally agree with most of the points they raise, but I still love it. And I’m not sorry. :P

Oh also, I adore Ginny telling James to give Neville their love and he goes: “Mum! I can’t give a professor love!” Hahahaha.

Basically I love these books. A lot. Obviously. :D

The jacket illustration:

And the special edition!

That’s all for now! Just a couple more HP posts and then that’s it! :S

1 comment:

Hmm, you raise a good point about Lily/sacrifice. I remember about those two clues before DH came out. I wonder if that part got cut from the book or something? (Perhaps she'll release more info on Pottermore?) Hahaha man, I love so laugh so hard every time I read that scene with Ron. He just gets me by his over reaction - slamming down the spoon - and then Merlin expression. I love it :D I LOVE all the quotes you added! The kiss!! Oh it is so perfect. And when Harry interrupts too.

I think Snape is the most tragic character I've ever read. Carrying that heartache for all his life and never really getting the recognition for what a GOOD, brave person he is while he was alive. Granted, he had a bad attitude most of the time (Neville would agree with me), but he's excused frm that given his history.

I just want to comment on every paragraph you've written and gush with you, but then my comment would probably be longer than your post LOL. I absolutely agree about the epilogue! <3 I really don't understand why people complained a lot about Albus Severus' name. I think it's fitting. Anyway, I've loved all these posts and am sad they've come to an end. Well done on all your recaps!